To Be a Thestral
by TheOneAndOnlyGlitter
Summary: Luna Lovegood is an ordinary girl. Almost. Though Luna is a witch attending Hogwarts, she is still very human and deals with the same problems as everyone as, such as feeling like an outcast and being bullied. This is a day in Luna's life. ONESHOT.


_Nargles… they're everywhere! I don't understand how no one else seems affected by them…_ Luna thought to herself as she looked around the crowded hallway.

Luna noticed all of the busy students, running to get to class, laughing amongst themselves, just acting like teenagers. Luna also noticed that all of the other kids were in groups, unlike her. Luna continued to walk alone in the hallway.

_It's not that bad,_ she thought to herself, _I don't need any hallway companions I suppose._

As Luna lost herself in her thoughts, she turned a corner and found herself pushed up against the wall.

"Oops. Sorry Loony." Pansy Parkinson said rudely with a smirk.

Pansy had always been particularly mean to Luna; Luna had been a recurring joke for Pansy and her friends. Luna never really understood why. Luna was nice enough, so they couldn't be making fun of her for her attitude. She must have been intelligent enough if she was put into Ravenclaw, so they could not be amused by her grades. Luna had often been told she was pretty as well, although she never really saw it, she just saw herself as not particularly ugly. Still, she doubted her looks were funny enough for her to be teased about them. What could it have been then?

"Oh Loony, nice radishes!" Pansy sarcastically stated about Luna's new earrings. "As if your face doesn't look stupid enough as it is," Pansy muttered to her friends quietly. Pansy's quiet remark caused the other Slytherin girls around her to laugh and high-five Pansy.

"Why thank you, Pansy. I thought they'd look lovely with my eyes, I rather hope they do." Luna said calmly with a smile.

The Slytherin girls burst into hysterics, but Luna did not think anything she had said was funny. _Perhaps they were thinking of an inside joke, or replaying a funny memory; perhaps what I had said reminded them of something funny that had happened early._ _Surely the girls aren't laughing at me_, Luna thought, _right?_

"Well, I have a free, I might as go on a walk on the grounds. Goodbye." Luna said with a friendly smile.

"Not so fast, dear Loony," Pansy said, an evil smirk forming on her face. "Your shoes will get dirty if you walk on the grounds; after all it recently rained."

"You're right I suppose. Maybe I'll walk to my dormitory first and put on boots or something. I'll figure it out." Luna wasn't sure why, but she had a strong feeling that she needed to get out of there, and fast.

As Luna turned to walk away, two Slytherin girls walked up and grabbed her from behind.

"No, no, no, Loony. What fun would that be?" Pansy said evilly. "Restrain her." Pansy told the Slytherin girls, who complied.

"Excuse me, I beg your pardon, let me go!" Luna said, wondering why on earth there were no teachers around. "This is rather rude. Let me go!"

Although Luna protested, Pansy quickly stole Luna's shoes, and then the Slytherin girls let her go.

"Excuse me, but why did you do that?" Luna asked, reaching for her shoes back.

"Well I thought that was obvious: so you can't have them," Pansy said with an evil grin, holding the shoes far out of Luna's reach. With a final bout of hysterical laughter at the sight of Luna jumping for her shoes, the Slytherin girls ran off, leaving Luna behind and barefoot.

_That was completely unnecessary!_ Luna thought. _Terribly mean indeed._

Luna took off her radish earrings and put them in her pocket, hoping she did not look as ridiculous as the girls thought she did. Luna started to feel the cold of the stone floor on her feet and noticed how alone she was in the corridor. It seemed that everyone had gone to class. With no one around, Luna could let it all out. She fell to the floor, her bag falling next to her, clutched her knees, and cried for what felt like hours. _Mommy, why aren't you here?_ Luna thought as she wept. _I miss you mommy. You would have protected me from this. I just need you. I need a friend._

Suddenly, Luna heard a door slam in the distance. _Oh no_, Luna thought, _I can't be seen this weak_. Luna got up, grabbed her bag, and ran from the hallway, not looking back or caring that her face was red and tears were streaming down her face.

Walking through the halls, Mr. Harry James Potter had felt extremely stressed as of late. It was his fifth year at Hogwarts, and it had been the worst by far. Looking the window, he saw a mysterious beast that he had previously seen pulling the school carriages after getting off the Hogwarts Express. Harry decided to the Dark Forest and look for this beast.

After running for a while, Luna had not even noticed where here bare feet had taken her. She stopped to breathe and looked around, noticing she had run into the Dark Forest. Luna didn't mind; it was daytime and she felt relatively safe.

The tears had stopped coming, but she was still breathing unevenly. Luna walked slowly, her feet aching terribly.

_It'll be alright_, Luna thought to herself, _I'll get my shoes back eventually. That's only the fourth pair this year; not bad considering how late in the year it is_.

Soon enough, Luna had come across a herd of thestrals. Luna loved thestrals, even though she didn't love how she'd been able to see them. _It's really a shame that thestrals can only be seen by people who have seen death_, Luna thought. Suddenly she flashed back to the explosion that ended her mother's life… her mother laying on the floor… her going up to her mother and shaking her… _"Mommy? Mommy this isn't funny. It's time to wake up now mommy… Mommy? Daddy! Daddy, help!"_ Luna flinched as she tried to push away the memory as a young thestral came close to her.

After a while, Luna looked normal again, as if nothing had upset her that day. Soon enough, Luna felt the presence of a certain boy wizard behind her. "Hello, Harry Potter." Luna said as she tossed the baby thestral an apple she took out from her bag.

"Hello Luna," Harry replied. "Excuse me, but what are those?" Harry asked, pointing to the thestral.

"They're called thestrals." Luna replied kindly. "They're quite gentle, really, but people seem to avoid them because they're a bit…" Luna trailed off, coming to a sudden realization. Luna was a thestral. Not literally of course, but symbolically. Luna was treated badly and avoided because she was different as well. No wonder she had come to like the animals so much… she identified with them completely.

"Different." Harry Potter said, finishing Luna's sentence. Luna nodded.

Although Harry and Luna continued talking and she explained more about the thestrals, Luna's mind was elsewhere. Luna had come to realize that even though thestrals may be weird and have a bad reputation for being misunderstood, they were very useful and had thrived as a species. Hogwarts needed them, and the clan of thestrals that lived on the school grounds was rather large.

Luna smiled as she thought to herself: _I guess being unique isn't such a bad thing after all… _


End file.
